Has anyone sought Cameron and Osborne's thoughts on their former efficiency tsar?
Is the High Street doomed
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MickiQ
In My Defence I was left Unsupervised
The Pension Fund will get first dibs on any proceeds from the sale but it is not likely to be enough to make up all the shortfall, There have been calls for Green to put in the £350m himself which is about a third of his fortune.
Don't know how much actual power the Pension Regulator has to make him do that, very little I suspect.
Don't know how much actual power the Pension Regulator has to make him do that, very little I suspect.
Bahnhof Strasse
Met up with Hannah Courtoy a week next Tuesday
It keeps stunning me that raiding pension pots is not a crime, how long since Maxwell now? And the language they use, pension deficit, as if it is just one of those things rather than having some thieving cunt using his staff’s savings as his personal piggy bank.
pinkmonkey
2.4 hour party person
Its fucking gross.
MickiQ
In My Defence I was left Unsupervised
He hasn't been raiding it that is indeed a crime, what he has been doing is taking a pension payment holiday by not putting in employer contributions. This is smoke and mirrors accounting, the pension is valued at X basically using guesswork as to how much it will contain at some future date if its investments grow at the guessed rate. So the company can say "Great the Pension will have enough money in it anyway so we will scale back what we have to put in (on top of employee contributions) and we're still good"
When it doesn't grow at the projected rate then there is a shortfall, Arcadia is by no means unique in this regard, that's the reason they weren't exactly swamped with offers for the Tata Steel business, its pension fund is shy half a billion and whoever bought it would be liable for it.
Arcadia is still liable for its pension shortfall that's why it will get paid first but clearly if the sale only raises £200m say then the fund is still £150m short, the Govt is the ultimate guarantor of pensions so it will step in but it has special rules that limit its liability.
Much of the money that wasn't then put in the Pension scheme because it wasn't "needed" was then paid out as dividends to guess who which is why a lot of people now think he should pony up but my guess is he won't
Bahnhof Strasse
Met up with Hannah Courtoy a week next Tuesday
Yeah, he’s taken the cash that should’ve gone to his staff, the thieving cunt.
BristolEcho
Well-Known Member
Oh he will very much be an ultimate winner out of this as will the very many other people involved along the way.
not-bono-ever
meh
‘
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As explained in today's Guardian profile of 'Sir' Philip Green
....Guardian headline said:
Rupert Neate said:
MickiQ
In My Defence I was left Unsupervised
No problems with this it is actually very reasonable, HMRC should get paid off off in full after the Pension fund and employee redundancy payments but before banks, suppliers and of course shareholders.Surprise surprise they went into administration a day before this.
cupid_stunt
Chief seagull hater & farmerbarleymow's nemesis.
It's confirmed that Debenhams is closing all stores, after JD Sports pulled out of a potential rescue deal. 
Debenhams set to close putting 12,000 jobs at risk
The move comes after the failure of last-ditch efforts to rescue the ailing department store chain.
www.bbc.co.uk
MickiQ
In My Defence I was left Unsupervised
Mrs Q is a staunch patron of Debenhams both online and in the shop, she's not happy about itIt's confirmed that Debenhams is closing all stores, after JD Sports pulled out of a potential rescue deal.
Debenhams set to close putting 12,000 jobs at risk
The move comes after the failure of last-ditch efforts to rescue the ailing department store chain.www.bbc.co.uk
pinkmonkey
2.4 hour party person
I expect someone will buy the website - it makes a fortune - it's the stores and the rent that nobody wants.It's confirmed that Debenhams is closing all stores, after JD Sports pulled out of a potential rescue deal.
Debenhams set to close putting 12,000 jobs at risk
The move comes after the failure of last-ditch efforts to rescue the ailing department store chain.www.bbc.co.uk
And the staff
pinkmonkey
2.4 hour party person
Unfortunately yes. Many of these retailer websites are actually operated like ebay and Amazon, Debenhams website is - suppliers upload and manage their own stock on there, Debenhams checks in and removes anything they think is not in the supply contract they agreed with the supplier (usually if they think its a conflict with their own products - which make more profit obvs.), its a DIY operation, with low overheads and customers go there because Debenhams is a recognised and loved brand. That thing I was saying earlier in this thread about reduced profits meaning that retailers had to strip even more layers away to stay in the same position - these retailer websites are a great example of that.
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Mrs S. was saying earlier that most of her work suits and clothes come from Debenhams and Dorothy Perkins. But as she as been working from home since March, she hasn’t bought much at all. Multiply that by however many thousands of customers currently doing the same. Plus the loss in sales of holiday wear. It’s devastating to already struggling retail outlets on the high street.
pinkmonkey
2.4 hour party person
Its even worse for the suppliers - Jobs Of Millions Of Bangladeshi Garment Workers At Stake
Absolutely, because there is not only British retail in decline. The global impact of Covid and it’s economic effects will cause misery for millions.
Raheem
Well-Known Member
And there will always be the likes of Green who see that as a good swap as long as it's not their misery.
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
As explained in today's Guardian profile of 'Sir' Philip Green
Click the photo to see pg in all his glory
hash tag
Books, not bombs
The old Debenham's in Battersea and the brand new one in Wandsworth both closed down before lock down. Battersea felt old and tired and both
were uninspirational, I popped into them both occasionally but they really didn't do it for me. I could not understand why they ever opened in Wandsworth
when they were already in trouble and Battersea was failing. They have left a big hole in both Wandsworth and Battersea.
Even the flagship store in Oxford St, nestled among the likes of John Lewis and Selfridges was not brilliant.
Someone quipped on HIGNFY last night that they are 50 years old and nothing had changed during that time.
Very sad for all the staff, but the writing had been on the wall for years.
Warning : Some very rare shopping talk from me incoming -- that's the W of W doing Dry December (and on a Saturday too!! 
) effect!
I got a pair of good but inexpensive pair of black jeans from Swansea's Debenhams today -- £18=
(And an excellent pair of half-price Caterpillar** boots there a fortnight ago --£58:95).
**Wasn't there something Bad about Caterpillars??? :confused -- can't remember ....
The man who took my payment thought he was lucky -- he has a new retail job lined up already, late January -- he reckons Tescos will be good because food stores are doing alright. A lot better than no job I suppose! -- he seemed happy about it anyway ....
But Debenhams was rammed to the rafters on both floors here this morning -- admittedly one of the busiest pre-Xmas Saturdays ... queues at the tills were ridiculous.
I suppose people were bargain-hunting, and there were a lot of third-of-price and half-price reductions there.
And Debenhams' closing-down sale hasn't even properly started yet -- that's for Boxing Day onwards apparantly -- for those crazy enough to treat sales-shopping as an Xmas holiday treat!!!
<----that's a back-in-the-pub-or-at-least-home-drinking-by-then reaction!! Holiday recovery, for me, that'll be 
) effect! I got a pair of good but inexpensive pair of black jeans from Swansea's Debenhams today -- £18=
(And an excellent pair of half-price Caterpillar** boots there a fortnight ago --£58:95).
**Wasn't there something Bad about Caterpillars??? :confused -- can't remember ....
The man who took my payment thought he was lucky -- he has a new retail job lined up already, late January -- he reckons Tescos will be good because food stores are doing alright. A lot better than no job I suppose! -- he seemed happy about it anyway ....
But Debenhams was rammed to the rafters on both floors here this morning -- admittedly one of the busiest pre-Xmas Saturdays
... queues at the tills were ridiculous.I suppose people were bargain-hunting, and there were a lot of third-of-price and half-price reductions there.
And Debenhams' closing-down sale hasn't even properly started yet -- that's for Boxing Day onwards apparantly -- for those crazy enough to treat sales-shopping as an Xmas holiday treat!!!
<----that's a back-in-the-pub-or-at-least-home-drinking-by-then reaction!! Holiday recovery, for me, that'll be I suspect Tesco et al will be OK for a good while yet, unless someone at their head totally fucks them up somehow.
However, aren't Amazon circling the home delivery market for food too? The lockdowns may have nudged some towards doing grocery shopping online in the longer term.
hash tag
Books, not bombs
We are seeing the biggest change since second world war Crazy golf on the first floor? UK’s department stores face radical remake
hash tag
Books, not bombs
Amazon bought out whole foods a year or two back, so not just delivery. I believe they are also rolling out till free stores
shakespearegirl
just worked out taglines
I can’t understand the pension deficit thing, when I had my own company and missed two pension payments for employees (my biz partner was charged with setting up and organising it) I got a letter from the pension people saying id be fined if it wasn’t all up to date within 14 days and if it happened again it would be a big fine. Totally fair enough, we’d fucked up, how can they get away with it for so long
Cloo
Banana for scale
Attended a webinar and read the paper it was based on afterwards this week for my work, about how buildings and places could change - was really interesting, a number of good, well informed speakers from design, real estate and academia.
Basically 'central business districts' as we know them might be pretty fucked.... you're less likely to get mono-occupied mega-buildings. They'll have to look at making buildings much more adaptable for multiple uses. Personally I reckon we need to find some mechanism, dunno how, to get ordinary people living in city centres again - result: loads more people who could walk/bike to work; retail/entertainment not being totally reliant on business or tourism if that shit happens again so much more sustainable rather than there being big 'dead zones' out of working hours, and so on. I mean, maybe this will happen if they become such deserts without residential that the land value collapses until you can afford to put residential there, but I can't believe that it won't remain super pricey because of the potential for change of use.
The local high street however has some interesting options with more people WFH - local areas may be expected to supply more for our social and work needs, a few people saying that hotels/restaurants/pubs may really be looking at aiming to provide and monetise that 'third space' for people who want to work at home but get out of the house a bit, which I think they will want to do once that's an option. I certainly would. Independent cafes, restaurants and shops that won't be dropping and renegotiating 100s of leases for the next few years will actually be at a distinct advantage against chains - provided they can keep afloat.
At the beginning of this I thought we would all rush back to life as before when this was over, but I really don't think so now and I don't think it'll necessarily be possible. There's likely to be some pretty profound affects on the whole urban infrastructure we've been used to.
Basically 'central business districts' as we know them might be pretty fucked.... you're less likely to get mono-occupied mega-buildings. They'll have to look at making buildings much more adaptable for multiple uses. Personally I reckon we need to find some mechanism, dunno how, to get ordinary people living in city centres again - result: loads more people who could walk/bike to work; retail/entertainment not being totally reliant on business or tourism if that shit happens again so much more sustainable rather than there being big 'dead zones' out of working hours, and so on. I mean, maybe this will happen if they become such deserts without residential that the land value collapses until you can afford to put residential there, but I can't believe that it won't remain super pricey because of the potential for change of use.
The local high street however has some interesting options with more people WFH - local areas may be expected to supply more for our social and work needs, a few people saying that hotels/restaurants/pubs may really be looking at aiming to provide and monetise that 'third space' for people who want to work at home but get out of the house a bit, which I think they will want to do once that's an option. I certainly would. Independent cafes, restaurants and shops that won't be dropping and renegotiating 100s of leases for the next few years will actually be at a distinct advantage against chains - provided they can keep afloat.
At the beginning of this I thought we would all rush back to life as before when this was over, but I really don't think so now and I don't think it'll necessarily be possible. There's likely to be some pretty profound affects on the whole urban infrastructure we've been used to.
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